Emergence of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase, Austria

DOI: 10.3201/eid1701.101331
Suggested citation for this article: Zarfel G, Hoenigl M, Leitner E, Salzer HJF, Feierl G, Masoud L, et al. Emergence of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase, Austria [letter]. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Jan; [Epub ahead of print]
Emergence of New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase, Austria

To the Editor: Extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacteriaceae strains have emerged as a major public health problem throughout the world, particularly in India and Pakistan. The widespread use of carbapenems, the only agents reliably active against these bacteria, resulted in the emergence of a new resistance mechanism. New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM-1) was first detected in a Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate in 2008 from a Swedish patient of Indian origin; it has since been reported in increasing numbers of infections in patients from India, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom (1–3).

NDM-1 shares very little identity with other metallo-β-lactamase enzymes; Enterobacteriaceae isolates with NDM-1 show high resistance to nearly all commonly used antibacterial agents (4). Most NDM-1 patients in Europe and the United States had received medical care in India or Pakistan before isolation of the strain. However, the emergence of NDM-1 poses the risk of plasmid-mediated transfer of the carbapenemase enzyme blaNDM-1 between different bacterial strains, which could lead to serious public health issues (3,5). We report the emergence of NDM-1–positive K. pneumoniae in Austria in 2009–2010.

Primers for PCR detection of NDM-1 were designed according to GenBank (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) database entry AB571289.1 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/300422615). The forward primer NDM-1gf 5′-ACC GCC TGG ACC GAT GAC CA-3′ (positions 80–99), and reverse primer NDM-1gr 5′-GCC AAA GTT GGG CGC GGT TG-3′ (positions 343–324) were used.

PCR conditions were the following: initial denaturation at 94°C for 5 min; 35 cycles at 95°C for 30 s, 58°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s; and final incubation for 10 min at 72°C. Taq...

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